Mateo nodded, “At least he escaped. That’s what I was hoping.”
The hooded figure said, “As long as he didn’t get caught inside the Book Tower, I’d say he escaped but he did disappear. I think he’s been moving from roof to roof, but I can’t be sure. There are fewer rats up there.”
I said the first thing that came into my head, “Have you tried bats?” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 34
As we rode through the tunnel toward the shed and our hidden exit, I found Vincent’s comm id and set up a channel for the three of us to talk, finally asking, “Where did you last see Working Man?”
I felt him move behind me, “One of the parking lots in Foxtown. The one on Cass near Bookie’s Bar and Grille.”
Hoping that Mateo was listening in, I said, “Do you know where that is? I don’t.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 33
Mateo and I looked at each other. I said, “We’d better get down there,” while he said, “She’s not going to be able to take them alone.”
At least we tried to, starting, getting few words out, and then deciding by mutual, unstated agreement that we were on the same page. We ran for the elevator we’d only just exited.
As we reached the elevator, Mateo turned to shout at the room, “From what we see, the people that just came back are under the vampires’ control. Don’t let them up here. Don’t let anyone open the doors to the outside, and above all else, if you see a vampire or something that could be a vampire, don’t invite them in here, okay?” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 29
Mateo looked at me and then out toward Unity’s HQ, “I’m sure there’s a way. Do you think you could fly in? Imagine if you snuck in as close as you could and then flew the rest of the way.”
I nodded, “Assuming they didn’t try to shoot me out of the air and that Unity’s base doesn’t aim their air defenses at me, sure.”
Grinning, Mateo said, “But it’s one more option than sneaking it or racing up to the front door, right? I think we can make a few more options if we talk to people.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 27
With a full utility belt and arms, I carried my new equipment down the hall and over to the bike. Watching through my implant as the new components integrated, I didn’t see any error messages.
I’d tested it and knew there shouldn’t be errors, but it was nice to know that that was true in reality.
Mateo had already seated himself on his bike, “Ready?” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 25
Laughing, Mateo said, “If I’ve learned anything in this job, it’s to count on the fictional ideas that screw you over turning out to be true. Besides, the mask thinks it’s true.”
I stared at the blue mask on Mateo’s face, “Does it talk to you?”
Mateo shook his head but didn’t say anything more—probably because of the Syndicate L people in the room. What were we going to do with them?
Nodding, I said, “Got it. What are we going to do with these people?” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 24
He looked down toward the vampire’s ashen body on the concrete floor, “It’s always been more like what you saw with the first vampire. But I’ve never been in a room with holy water mist either.”
Then he pointed toward my squirt gun, “What did you think?”
I pulled it out and looked it over, “It was okay. I guess I’d been hoping it would have more stopping power. Maybe the thing would dissolve or something? I don’t know.” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 23
The vampire’s scream started as a hiss, but grew into more as its hand burned, charring the flesh. It covered the burning hand with its arm, smothering the fire between its arm and chest.
That would have worked with real fire, and it seemed to work here, but white flame flashed outward from the hand. The creature made a grunt that ended in a squeal. Moving its arm, it pulled out the blackened hand and bits of ash drifted toward the ground. Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 22
More than one bullet hit my suit, failing to get through the layers of protection provided by a combination of alien materials with design elements created by both myself and my grandfather. The costume might look like a motorcycle racing suit, but it was a Rocket stealth suit with more protection and a few new ideas.
The bullets didn’t bounce off. The outer layer absorbed force, causing the bullets to sink in, but then fall to the ground. The few that did bounce off had less force than before, landing at worst a few feet away and lying there. Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 21
“A giant vampire?” Mateo had opened the security camera app on the lab’s computer. “It looks like one of the Nosferatu out of Vampire: The Masquerade.”
I eyed him, “Do you play that?”
“When I was a teenager, there was a local LARP group that ran events near—”
I grinned, “No way. I wouldn’t have pegged you as a—” Continue reading Motor City Intern: Part 20